Denton Bike Plans, Now and Future

In the past few months bike riders have noticed several changes around Denton. The addition of bike lanes to the west ends of Oak and Hickory is almost complete. The UNT pedestrian bridge has opened, offering an alternative to the North Texas Blvd bridge and Bonnie Brae underpass. The main span of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Pedestrian Bridge has been placed over Loop 288 and will soon provide a connection from Corinth, NCTC, and far southeast Denton to downtown (as well as providing a good route to cargo bike riders on their trips to Home Depot and Target). Tonight, City Council will hear a plan for improvements to East Hickory Street that will include back-in parking, a layout that dramatically increases visibility from parked cars and decreases car/car and car/bike accidents.

These changes would not have happened without the efforts of hundreds of citizens who wrote letters and called City Council, showed up to dozens of meetings for the bike plan, Traffic Safety Commission, Planning and Zoning Commission, and City Council, and represented bike riders and pedestrians. But, this goes further back than the bike plan in 2011 or meetings on the the rail trail in 2009. In 1999, the first Denton Comprehensive Plan was adopted which included real mention of bicycle and pedestrian accommodations. The Comprehensive Plan has guided planning, zoning, transportation and engineering decisions for the past 14 years in Denton.

Now Denton is writing a new Comprehensive Plan, and we need to make sure that bicycle riders and pedestrians are represented in this one as well. There are two input meetings this week about the plan: